PERSONALITY

Master Pavel of Kravare - Unfortunately we haven’t got many documents about the life or origin of this Hussite preacher. Evidently He came from a poor background and was a Hussies’ preacher, a Master of Secular Sciences and Bachelor of Medicine. In May 1416 Master Pavel of Kravare was among members of the professorial congregation at Charles University in Prague. Here he became familiarized with the thoughts of Jan Hus, which he keenly propagated until his tragic death. In 1421 he left for Poland where he worked as a personal doctor of King Vladislav Jagiel. In 1433 Pavel was burnt to death as a dangerous schismatic and ‘Wickliff’. When Master Pavel of Kravare lived in Prague, he wrote the paper ‘Anatomy Antichristi’ (1420) containing a passionate plea of Hussitism, which was reprinted a hundred years later in Strasbourg.

Petr of Kravare (1389-1434) Petr of Kravare was the last owner of the domain of Kravare from the ancestry of Messieurs of Kravare. In 1416 after the death of his family member Lacek of Kravare, he was appointed as a Moravian Hetman by the Czech King Vaclav IV, meaning that he became the King’s attorney in Moravia. He was a respected and extremely wealthy man. owning lands spanning across Moravia and Silesia. and also the most important figure of the Moravian aristocracy. Petr of Kravare was heavily influenced by the preaching’s of Jan Hus and thus attended a lot of protestant gatherings of aristocracy in Velke Mezirici, Brno and Prague. Later in his life he supported a restrained wing of Hussites’ whose aim was to achieve an acknowledgement of Calixtines by peaceful resources. There is a street in Kravare named after Petr of Kravare.

Michal Sendivoj of Skorsko (1566-1636) was a Polish chemist and alchemist. From 1595 he worked as the court alchemist and doctor of the Emperor Rudolf II Habsbursk. Later on he received the title of Court Adviser and entered the diplomatic services. In 1630 he was gifted the town of Kravare by the Empire and lived here until his death. He brought together his ‘scientific work’ in five written alchemistic tractates (written in Latin). He was not a very popular man at his residence due to his cupidity and cursedness, where he was given the nickname ‘Polish devil’.

Augustin Kaluza (1776-1836) - a patriotic priest, a gymnasia professor and a scientist. He wrote many fundamental works about Silesian fauna and mineralogy, which forms the base of Silesian scientific literature. He travelled throughout Silesia (including Hlucinsko) locating and collecting minerals deposits. He described the valley of the Opava river and specified various height points such as Landek and Sneznik. As the first scientist in Silesia, he began using systematic categorisation and other scientific techniques designed by the Swedish explorer Carl Linne.

Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857) - the second son of Adolf von Eichendorff, who was the last owner of the town of Kravare. After his studies in Vratislava and Halle, he lived on his family estate near a town called Raciborz (Poland) and also frequented Silherovice. He spoke excellent Polish and contact with the local people enabled him to collect a folk art, which he re-created into his literary pieces. Many of his pieces have been sadly forgotten and today his most famous works include lyrical poetry and a novel called ‘Life about Never-do-well’ (Aus dem Leben eines Traugenichts, 1826). This funny novel is as important to German readers as Babicka from Bozena Nemcova is to the Czechs.

Josef Seyfried (1865-1923) - a building contractor. Inspired by Seyfried’s designs, there were built many monuments and utility buildings in Kravare and the surrounding villages in the North-German pseudo-gothic style. These beautiful and historic buildings characterize the town of Kravare (for example the town church including parish and town buildings which are registered to the National Trust).

Ludmila Horka (1892-1966) - poetess, prose-writer, collector of a folk literature, and founder of a folk creativity group. She wrote articles into the magazines Moravec, Nas Domov (Our Home), Nase Slezsko (Our Silesia), Moravska Orlice (Moravian Female Eagle) and Radostna Zeme (Happy Land). Among her best known pieces is an ethnic fictional trilogy which contains autobiographic elements: Doma (Home) 1943, Reka (River) 1946 and Dolina (Valley) 1962. Her novel production includes the fictional trilogy: Baladic story of women called Bejatka (1959) and Bitter life’s inheritance of simple women Mezivodky (1962).

Ivo Zidek (1926-2003) was a well-known Czech singer of Opera (lyric tenor) and a long-time member of the chorus in the National Theatre in Prague from 1948 onwards. Many musician professionals consider him the most significant Czech post-war opera tenor. One of his best-known roles was Jenik (Jack) in the Czech National Opera production of Prodana Nevesta (The Bartered Bride) by the composer Bedrich Smetana. Ivo Zidek was the Director of the National Theatre from 1989-1991. He provided many recordings of arias and operas for the Czechoslovakian radio and Supraphon Music Publishing.